Daniil Medvedev was on the brink of losing after two sets in his match against No. 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime in the Australian Open on Wednesday. However, the reigning U.S. Open champion stormed back from the two-set deficit and saved a match point to defeat Auger-Aliassime.
Before Wednesday, Medvedev had come back after being down two sets to love only once in his career. What's more fascinating than the Russian completing the comeback is what fueled him while accomplishing the feat.
“I was not playing my best and Felix was playing unbelievable, serving unbelievable,” Medvedev said. “He was all over me, to be honest, I didn’t really know what to do. I don’t know if people are going to like it, but I asked myself, ‘What would Novak do?’
“[Novak Djokovic] is one of the greatest champions or [Rafael Nadal] or [Roger Federer] because they've won so many matches like this. I wanted to make [Auger-Aliassime] work. If he wants to win, he has to fight to the last point.”
Moments after Medvedev noted his Djokovic inspiration, he was greeted with a round of boos and a few applause from the crowd inside Rod Laver Arena.
Djokovic, the 20-time singles major champion, left Australia on Jan. 16 after losing a legal challenge to a decision that revoked his visa from the country for the second time.
